Instant Pot Chicken And Wild Rice Soup

Instant Pot Chicken And Wild Rice Soup is a hearty, comforting, and creamy chicken soup made easy in the Instant Pot with chicken, wild rice blend, and lots of vegetables.

Course Main Dishes, Soup

Cuisine American

Keyword Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, Chicken Soup, Instant Pot Chicken And Rice Soup, Instant Pot Chicken And Wild Rice Soup

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Pressurization 20

Total Time 50

Servings

Calories 297kcal

Author Michele @ Flavor Mosaic

Equipment

6-Quart Instant Pot Duo60 from Amazon.com (affiliate link)

Ingredients

ADD BEFORE PRESSURE COOKING

2 Tablespoons butter (or oil)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 red sweet pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped carrots (about 2 carrots, peeled and diced)
3 cloves garlic, minced
48 ounces (6 cups) chicken broth (recommend low sodium)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
2 (6-oz) boxes parboiled wild rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 seasoning packet from box of rice

ADD AFTER PRESSURE COOKING

1/2 cup heavy cream

Cornstarch Slurry (Optional)

3 Tablespoons water
3 Tablespoons cornstarch

Instructions

BEFORE PRESSURE COOKING

Saute the vegetables. Press the SAUTE button. When the front of the Instant Pot says "Hot" then add the butter or oil. When the butter or oil is hot (butter will melt; oil will start to shimmer), add the mushrooms and cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Then add the onion, celery, red and green bell pepper, and cook for another 3 or 4 minutes. Then add the minced garlic and cook for about 1 minute, stirring the entire time so that the garlic does not burn.
Add the Liquid. Pour in about 1 cup of chicken broth or chicken stock. Scrape the bottom of the pan to ensure you get all the bits and pieces off the bottom of the pot. (This will help prevent getting a "Burn" message.) Then pour in the rest of the chicken stock or chicken broth. (I recommend using one with lower sodium so it does not make the soup too salty. )
Add the Chicken And Rice. Add the 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or chicken thighs) and 2 boxes of parboiled wild rice.
Add the Seasoning. Add salt, pepper, and the seasoning packet from one box of parboiled rice.

PRESSURE COOK

Pressure Cook the Soup. Press the PRESSURE COOK or MANUAL button (depending on model) and then adjust the + or - sign to 7 to set it to pressure cook on HIGH PRESSURE for 7 minutes. Close the lid. Move the Pressure Release Valve to the SEALING position. (NOTE: It will take several minutes, maybe 10 minutes, to come up to pressure. While it is coming up to pressure, it will say "On" and when it has reached the correct pressure, the display will show 10 and start counting down the time.)

AFTER PRESSURE COOKING

Release Pressure. After the Instant Pot has finished pressure cooking and the display will show the letter "L" with a number to show the time for pressure release, do a NATURAL RELEASE for 5 MIN. This means to let it release pressure naturally for 5 minutes. (This means you DO NOTHING for 5 minutes.) Then after 5 minutes carefully move the Pressure Release Valve to the VENTING position for a QUICK RELEASE of pressure. Once the pin drops and all pressure has been released, carefully remove the lid.
Make It Creamy. At this point, you could serve the soup as is and it would be delicious. It just would not be creamy. To make it ultra-rich and creamy, add 1/2 cup heavy cream and stir. If you want it to be thicker, combine 3 tablespoons each of water and cornstarch and then pour that in and wait 5 minutes. That will thicken up the soup.

Notes

While you can skip the step to sauté the vegetables first, I highly recommend that you don't skip this step. It adds so much flavor to the mushrooms, vegetables, and broth, that the soup may not taste the same if you skip that step.
Another step that must not be skipped, is scraping the bottom of the inner liner pot after you have cooked the vegetables. First, it adds flavor to the broth, and secondly, it helps to prevent getting the "Burn" message from Instant Pot. So be sure to add a little broth first to help loosen the little bits from the bottom of the pot.
The Instant Pot takes some time to come up to pressure BEFORE it starts pressure cooking. How long this takes can vary from recipe and from one model of Instant Pot to another. Be patient. If the Instant Pot just says "On" and is not counting down the time, that means it is still coming up to pressure. Once it starts counting down the time, then it has started pressure cooking.
Do NOT add in the heavy cream before pressure cooking. You don't want to pressure cook dairy ingredients. Wait to add the cream until AFTER pressure cooking in order to get the creamy consistency of the soup.
Optional. If you prefer a more broth-based soup vs a creamy soup, then leave out the cream at the end of the recipe. The soup will still be delicious. It just won't be creamy.

Nutrition